The One About The Tell-Tale Heart
by polybi
Summary: The Dark One spins a tale of Poe. There's a reason. S3, but no real spoilers. Inspired, in part, by The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe, with excerpts. A slight whiff of SwanQueen...and othet possible parings. This is a oneshot.


_I know it is late, And I was thinking that this could be a chapter in a story I am doing about That Tattoo. But since the day after I wrote this WAS Halloween, I thought this would be perfect._

_Be through and kind with your comments._

_OUAT is owned by ABC/Disney. This contains parts of "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allen Poe._

_Lights out...everybody!_

* * *

_TRUE! -nervous -very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses -not destroyed -not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily -how calmly I can tell you the whole story..._

Rumpelstiltskin had enthralled a group of boys...actually all in their teens...with a couple of ghostly tales from a trove of such that he kept in his brain. Why not, he was probably responsible for inspiring many of them as the Dark One.

_It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night. Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! yes, it was this! He had the eye of a vulture -a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees -very gradually -I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever._

The tales he spun served two purposes...as the date came close to Halloween it was appropriate entertainment. After all, he was the official ghost story teller in Storybrooke for all the years it had been in existence as part of the the Dark Curse..

_Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded -with what caution -with what foresight -with what dissimulation I went to work! I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him. And every night, about midnight, I turned the latch of his door and opened it -oh so gently! And then, when I had made an opening sufficient for my head, I put in a dark lantern, all closed, closed, that no light shone out, and then I thrust in my head. Oh, you would have laughed to see how cunningly I thrust it in! I moved it slowly -very, very slowly, so that I might not disturb the old man's sleep. It took me an hour to place my whole head within the opening so far that I could see him as he lay upon his bed. Ha! would a madman have been so wise as this, And then, when my head was well in the room, I undid the lantern cautiously-oh, so cautiously -cautiously (for the hinges creaked) -I undid it just so much that a single thin ray fell upon the vulture eye. And this I did for seven long nights -every night just at midnight -but I found the eye always closed; and so it was impossible to do the work; for it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye. And every morning, when the day broke, I went boldly into the chamber, and spoke courageously to him, calling him by name in a hearty tone, and inquiring how he has passed the night. So you see he would have been a very profound old man, indeed, to suspect that every night, just at twelve, I looked in upon him while he slept._

The other reason, the more immediate one, was survival. The person in charge of this Lord of the Flies recreation...one Peter Pan, by name, had kidnapped his grandson Henry Mills. It was Rumplestiltskin, along with the boys birth mother Emma, adoptive mother Regina, grandparents Snow and David, and a certain pirate whose left hand was deftly removed during a swordfight who had come to to the island called Neverland to save the boy.

And the aforementioned Pan had plans for the boy...the boy's heart, to be exact. Not to mention the deaths of anyone who had come to save him. That would also include Rumple's son Bae, now sporting the moniker of Neal, who was trapped with them.

And so to keep them occupied, ghost stories. Ending with the most chilling of all. The story of a man who murdered another man because that victim's eye spooked him out.

With dramatic measuring he continued the tale of the insane man's murdering. How he prepared for seven days and on the eighth did the dastardly deed. How he hid the body, and how the insane killer knew that he was going to get away with it.

_I smiled, -for what had I to fear? I bade the gentlemen welcome. The shriek, I said, was my own in a dream. The old man, I mentioned, was absent in the country. I took my visitors all over the house. I bade them search -search well. I led them, at length, to his chamber. I showed them his treasures, secure, undisturbed. In the enthusiasm of my confidence, I brought chairs into the room, and desired them here to rest from their fatigues, while I myself, in the wild audacity of my perfect triumph, placed my own seat upon the very spot beneath which reposed the corpse of the victim. The officers were satisfied. My manner had convinced them. I was singularly at ease. They sat, and while I answered cheerily, they chatted of familiar things. But, ere long, I felt myself getting pale and wished them gone. My head ached, and I fancied a ringing in my ears: but still they sat and still chatted. The ringing became more distinct: -It continued and became more distinct: I talked more freely to get rid of the feeling: but it continued and gained definiteness -until, at length, I found that the noise was not within my ears._

The boys were all enthralled now, as the Dark One weaved a tale of terror conceived long ago by an author whose dark tales may have been fueled by drink, forbidden love, and his own derangement. Included in the story's mad enchantment was Henry himself, who still got a kick out of Rumple's stories after five All Hallow's Eves. But the most affected was Pan. He was mesmerized by the story, as if he found himself in the portrayal of the killer. So affected by the telling that, if it were to happen, someone would sneak up to him, Pan would not even notice until it was too late

.

_No doubt I now grew very pale; -but I talked more fluently, and with a heightened voice. Yet the sound increased -and what could I do? It was a low, dull, quick sound -much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I gasped for breath -and yet the officers heard it not. I talked more quickly -more vehemently; but the noise steadily increased. I arose and argued about trifles, in a high key and with violent gesticulations; but the noise steadily increased. Why would they not be gone? I paced the floor to and fro with heavy strides, as if excited to fury by the observations of the men -but the noise steadily increased. Oh God! what could I do? I foamed -I raved -I swore! I swung the chair upon which I had been sitting, and grated it upon the boards, but the noise arose over all and continually increased. It grew louder -louder -louder! And still the men chatted pleasantly, and smiled. Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God! -no, no! They heard! -they suspected! -they knew! -they were making a mockery of my horror!-this I thought, and this I think. But anything was better than this agony! Anything was more tolerable than this derision! I could bear those hypocritical smiles no longer! I felt that I must scream or die! and now -again! -hark! louder! louder! louder! louder! "Villains!" I shrieked, "dissemble no more! I admit the deed! -tear up the planks! here, here! -It is the beating of his hideous...__**heart!**__"_

And it was at that moment...the Dark One saying saying the word heart, that Pan felt a hand actually reach into his chest cavity and grab his!

Behind him was Emma and Snow. Tinkerbell and the pirate Hook were starting to free Henry, Bae, and another captive. The followers of Pan were too dumbstruck by it all to attack.

And then the dark-haired woman walked around to face Peter Pan.

"Our son. And a way home," Regina Mills calmly ordered. And as she ever so slightly squeezed the young demon's heart, the Evil Queen smirked. "Please."

* * *

The voyage back to Storybrooke was much more crowded than the trip coming. Added to the passenger list were one son of the Dark One (They spent much of the trip re-bonding), A former and soon-to-be fairy (it was determined that a certain "Mother Superior would be read a rather lengthy version of the Riot Act in regards to Tinkerbell), and a young man what was also freed from the clutches of Pan, who would have died if it was not for the intervention of Snow White and Tinkerbell...they left him alone on that island to fend for himself. The stranger was a handsome sort, bearded with dark, soulful eyes.

The other Lost Boys came along. Regina and Snow agreed that there would be a home for the boys, and that, with Emma's help, they would not let those boys go through the horrors that Emma went through as an orphan. Snow owed that to Emma because she sent her daughter through that wardrobe, and Regina owed it to her because, frankly, the Evil Queen and the Savior had bonded during their adventure to save Henry. Bonded a lot. And actually, the one person who would complain the most, Mother Snow, didn't. She had seen the changes that were happening with Regina, most of which were happening because she was getting closer to her son and Emma. So she was, at least, content.

Henry and the boys helped with the sailing, which was a blast for him.

And what of the stranger? Tinkerbell found him looking out into the ocean, engaged in small talk, and eventually asked the man's name.

He said him real name was Robert Hode, but that he had some problems with some of the local law enforcement at the time, who chose to rename him Robin Hood.

And Tink did manage to notice something on the man's arm.

A tattoo.

Of a lion.

And Tink thought to herself as she looked back on a smiling Regina with Emma, this could get very interesting.

But then, that's another story, isn't it?

The End...


End file.
